SHADOW KINGDOM, 2016-17

This site was once the shore of Mission Bay, a 5,000 year-old tidal marsh that was habitat to a rich array of flora and fauna. In the early 19th century naturalists observed a dynamic ecosystem full of species whose trace is now obscured by our contemporary landscape. As the city of San Francisco grew and industrialized during the 19th century, the bay became the site of shipyards, warehouses and railroads. Beginning in the 1860s, Mission Bay was progressively filled in with sand and dirt from nearby development. Eventually, debris from the 1906 earthquake was added to form much of the land that makes up the neighborhood today. The five panels that form Shadow Kingdom evoke the layered history of the area. Ship masts intersect with topographical and architectural references. A number of the original species that once occupied the bay are depicted throughout the artwork, including bobcat, beaver, elk, raccoon, ground squirrel, coyote, steelhead, salmon, sedge, pickleweed, terns, sandpipers, egrets, American avocet, black-necked stilts, California clipper rail, and kestrels. When viewed from a distance the sculpture takes the shape of California grizzly bear. Once found in large numbers across the state, wild grizzlies last roamed San Francisco in the mid 1800’s. As the sun arcs across the sky, these endemic species are projected as shadows back onto the terrain they once inhabited.

THE TAKE DOWN, 2018

This piece is about WOOD and the removal and global trade and relocation of forests- The transformation of a forest into a comodity. Mahogany and Ipe are two south American woods that are highly desirable (historically and in the present) for fine furniture, woodwork, and floors. Both species grow sparsely, interspersed throughout great swaths of dense rainforest. The logging of these species is regulated but both woods are prime candidates for illegal logging. To acquire these woods, large swaths of forest are removed or damaged to access the trees.

PREVAILING WIND, 2018

STRATEGIC CENTER, 2018

5’x5’

Strategic Center is a drawing based on publicly available AIS data (Automatic Identification System). AIS tracks marine vessels, from Cargo ships to yachts, using satellites and is used to increase Marine safety as well as a tool for surveillance and monitoring of vessel positions. This piece is a small cross section of cargo and tanker traffic. The line work references the ship tracks and visualizations of ocean currents. The color running along the sides of the wood structure is sampled directly from cargo ship paint colors and standard RAL colors for shipping containers. The work is constructed of Ash, a wood often favored for steam bending and its flexibility and a material that is conceptually linked to the global movement of materials. Ash is a common tree in the Northeast United States (where this particular wood is sourced from), however this species is currently being decimated by the Ash Borer beetle, a tiny insect that travels on board container ships from China in wood pallets. Massive die offs of Ash in northeastern forests have many lumber companies harvesting the wood before it is killed by the invasive insect.

FAIRWAY, 2018

Ash, reclaimed pallets, brass and acrylic paint

8’x7’

Fairway is a drawing based on publicly available AIS data (Automatic Identification System). AIS tracks marine vessels, from Cargo ships to yachts, using satellites and is used to increase Marine safety as well as a tool for surveillance and monitoring of vessel positions. This piece charts the path of travel for cargo and tanker traffic. The line work references the ship tracks and visualizations of ocean currents. Sparse landforms made of wood and brass anchor the work from the center. The piece is constructed by a system of slots cut in the wood that are joined together in an improvised fashion with splices, hinting that these strips can be rearranged and moved around (and in fact they can). The color running along the sides of the wood structure is sampled directly from cargo ship paint colors and standard RAL colors for shipping containers. The wood is sourced from reclaimed pallets (mostly maple) and Ash, a wood often favored for steam bending and its flexibility. Both materials are linked to the global movement of materials. Ash is a common tree in the Northeast United States (where this particular wood is sourced from), however this species is currently being decimated by the Ash Borer beetle, a tiny insect that travels on board container ships from China in wood pallets. Massive die offs of Ash in northeastern forests have many lumber companies harvesting the wood before it is killed by the invasive insect.

SEMIPRECIOUS

SPECTRAL RECKONING, 2012

Inkjet prints, gouache, video, wood, boat parts, etc

This piece is derived from a series of photographs taken in the Peruvian Amazon along the Madre de Dios and Manu River, in French Guyana and in the tropical forests of Costa Rica. This work reflects the tension between the natural world and the transformation of nature into a commodified, industrial or synthetic landscape. The color and structure of this piece is informed by maps that are made from great distances such as satellite, infrared and LIDAR imaging, and the color maps that are imposed on the landscape when it is revisualized for scientific purposes.

OF DARKNESS, 2012

ANACONDA POND, 2012

Video Installation at the Luggage Store Gallery HD Video and Mylar

Anaconda Pond

UP FROM UNDER THE EDGE, 2009

In this work, photography and video shot in a section of the Amazon slated for oil exploration, are used to create the installation. The videos, inside small viewers, depict a remote view of the place. The photographic elements, have been transformed into silhouettes.

FOREST FOR THE TREES, 2010

Inkjet prints, sumi ink, film 12'x7'

Forest for the Trees is a meditation on the complex relationship between nature and industry; sustained land vs. commodified land; matter on the surface of the earth vs. the matter below ground; the morphing of the forest into an industrial landscape; and the fines lines between use and exploitation.

DENATURED GROUND, 2014

Ink Jet Prints, ink, acrylic, postcards, mylar 11’x23’x24”

This project was generated from a series of photographs I took from a small airplane over Midland/Odessa Texas, the center of the West Texas oil and fracking boom. The work combines the aerial photographs with images off of google maps to create the grid and network of roads and rigs one sees from the air. All of the natural sections of the landscape have been cut away.

WAYS, POINTS AND MEANS, 2012-2013

2012-2013

This installation combined photos, videos, wall works and sculpture that were generated from 3 trips at sea with research scientists. (in the Arctic and in the Amazon Plume) The works in the exhibition specifically focus on the sea as a persistently foreign body, an overlooked wilderness that one attempts to comprehend through technologies, optics and cartography.

PIPED IN, HOOKED ON, 2008-2009

paper, aluminum, ink and latex paint 9'x37'x3' (variable)

Piped In, Hooked On is derived from maps of the crude oil and natural gas pipelines of the US, a massive system that each member of contemporary society interacts with in nearly all aspects of life, but which is seldom visible. The images of oil infrastructure were hand drawn and cut from memory after several tours of oil refineries where they do not allow photographs to be taken.

FOR THE DEEP, 2009

For the Deep, Phase Two is derived from maps of the arctic seafloor; video and photographs taken while onboard USCG icebreaker, The Healy; audio recordings of ships, ice and marine mammals recorded from the bottom of the Arctic Ocean; and sub-bottom profiles of the geology of the Arctic. The primary map-structure of For the Deep depicts the US efforts in the Arctic to support Article 77 of the UN Convention for the Law of the Sea. In an effort to determine the location and span of the United States’ continental shelf north of Barrow, Alaska, scientists are mapping the seafloor using sonar. The path they choose to map is determined by where it is believed the continental shelf might extend and where the ice pack allows the ship to break through. In this process, we gain strands of information that bring to light this submerged topography. We also loose bits of information, as the sound of a 420 foot ship crashing though at times thick sea ice interrupts the sonar used to visualize the Ocean’s geologic formations.

JUST BELOW, 2006

Paper and ink 30'x40'x10' (app)

This installation, displayed at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, charts the course of water from the museum’s pipes to the Bay through the San Francisco sewer system and wastewater treatment plant. The layers of maps represent the sewer lines, city streets, the historic creek network that now runs through the sewer system, as well as the pipes that form wastewater treatment.